AD, I was going to fiddle with your spreadsheet but I didn't want to bugger what others had done etc.

I believe we could leave the description off under the headings so to compress the frame and enable more sections. Most of the time the headings are pretty self explanatory.

Here is my go.

I think a camping information page will help organise it a bit better, and would look a bit more attractive to new members. I think a camping with disability would be good as I did a google and actually cam across a disability forum where someone actually said there is little information on camping sites for disabled.

Anyhow this is my go, yes a little longer but as I said if we could leave out some of the descriptions on the first page you can compress more and it wont be too long.

The Camping Experience (Information) Camping for Beginners Camping with a Disability Camping with Kids Camping with Pets and Animals (Dogs and Horses mainly) Cooking, Recipes, BBQâ€™s Navigation (GPS etc, would be good if we can post waypoints etc to share)

Activity_Dept wrote:I believe our point of difference is that because we are independent, we provide unbiased information about all camping grounds; equipment etc. and that we are a site created for and by ‘the camping community’. So we hope to be the voice (lobby group) of the outdoor community not the voice of the industry.

I frequent a broadband forum http://whirlpool.net.au/ They site owners are fiercely independent. But they do allow and promote businesses to participate(who generally stay in their respective forums and offer technical and billing assistance) The smaller ISP's usually participate but the 2-3 biggest telcos don't. Overall it works really well, which is living proof that a site can be independent and have input from retailers/suppliers.

Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas. Joseph Stalin

Troy the only comment I would make, assuming I am reading your layout correctly ie the bold heading is the main forum and the normal headings are the subforum, is that it becomes a navigation nightmare to move around and things get lost.

Ie if you look at the layout i drafted there is 13 forums and 2 sub forumsyour layout (correct me if I'm reading this wrong) is 6 forums but 27 sub forums. IMO way too many options and a recipy for threads to get lost & placed in the wrong section.

I guess my experiance comes from being a moderator (now retired mod) on a fairly large forum with over 20,000 members, over 80,000 threads, 820,000 posts and anything upto 350 members logged in at one time.

KISS seems to work well

A place I'd rather be...Mitchel Road, Bomjinna. Central West Victoria (Jan '08)

Komodo. I have assumed that there are no sub-forums. The bold headings would be titles like the only title on the forum which says Camping Australia. So all the options under the headings will be visible on the front page. If we break parks and events down into regions we get the extra lines, which I said if we don't have the desricption will reduce the length.

For Parks and campgrounds we could list it like this to reduce the depthTourist parks and CampgroundsQld&NT, NSW&ACT, VIC&TAS, SA&WA, NZ&International

The problem is going to be have a simple layout at the front, which has enough detail to direct people. If someone is going to do a new post they will start on the front page.

But of course I don't know how limited by software its going to be.

If you want, it wont take me long, but I could quickly do a mimic of what it may look like with my option/strucuture.

Never argue with a fool! They drag you down to their level, and beat you with experience!

Troy, I think what Komodo is saying is that on the front page we can have multiple forums and then within those (sub forums) and still have a description beside that. With the current layout we only have the one forum so all the threads are basically sub forums. But setting up multiple forums will break it up a bit. Is that correct Komodo?

I have noticed while being a member that a fair few new members join and don't post anything. I have also noticed the new members that join and post one or two times and thats it ... whether it is because they only wanted to ask one question ... then they are never to be heard of again. Whether it is confusion of the presant layout or just a fad thing, we don't have that many constant members that it would cause a problem moving posts, tidying up posts, and most importantly, finding older posts that may become of interest to someone again.

Also the fact of more moderators added to the forum would be a huge bonus to get this voluntary job done.

Troys layout may be a little long but with so many different options (and questions asked on this forum) it would make it a lot tidier and easier to search, which is what people are joining up for in the first place. This idea is similar to that of another forum we are members of and it runs very very well with very few 'lost' or moved posts.

Pretty cool all the little folders there Komodo how did you do that? I think we will have to do a bit of both (yes alway the diplomat) 'I knew you were going to say that Komodo so I thought I would beat you to it'. Some of the names Troy came up with are to good to cut, but I think itt will have to be rationalized.

Activity_dept thats the power of windows explorer and too much time (I was on the phone to a builder...). I agree that you need to take the best ideas from any where and every where to come up with the best layout for this forum.

will_deness thats my thoughts also. The events could be placed under the relevant states "where to go" perhaps a different title would be more fitting.

gypsylady personally I think polls don't need their own section BUT camping with pets could be a sub forum under the relevant state. ie suggest im travelling to QLD and I want to know where to stay with my dog, click on QLD and then click on the sub forum "pet freindly camp grounds" and then I can choose camp grounds in QLD that are pet freindly. Im not interested in NSW or Victoria or any other state so I dont want to have to filter through to find the QLD pet freindly camp grounds.

Amanda Introductions I see as exactly that - a place to introduce your self "hi im kirk from victoria im 23 I go camping with my partner kelly mostly. we like to do remote bush camping where ever possible but we do like to stay in camp grounds with basic facilities occasionally" members reply "hi kirk (and kelly) and welcome to the forum. you'll find heaps of info on camping in victoria etc etc...."

where as newbies I see as a place for newbies to ask really basic questions like "what peg do i need" "newbie to camping needs help" "HELP first time campers" And a place for more experianced members to write up helpful tutes ie "how to choose the right tent the first time" "basic list of things to take camping" etc.

A place I'd rather be...Mitchel Road, Bomjinna. Central West Victoria (Jan '08)